


All That's Left to Do is Run

by mooosicaldreamz



Series: Love Story [2]
Category: Glee
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-02-20
Updated: 2014-02-20
Packaged: 2018-01-13 04:01:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,192
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1211941
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mooosicaldreamz/pseuds/mooosicaldreamz
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Quinn's life is taking unexpected turns.</p>
            </blockquote>





	All That's Left to Do is Run

Quinn Fabray is not interested in learning anymore about Brittany and Santana's strange, _insane_ relationship.  She's been staying at Brittany's for just under a month now, after Finn threw her out (more nicely than her parents, but still _throwing her out_ ), and she's witnessed more than enough of their strange dance around each other. 

It's not like she hasn't noticed over the years how the two act around each other - there had been that one sleepover last year that she had witnessed a reasonably deep kiss and _then_ her brain just wouldn't let go, to this day.  For whatever _goddamn_ reason, it's been seared into her head.  And so every time they touch each other while Quinn's _right there_ makes this strange tight feeling take hold of Quinn and she doesn't like it.

So, when Rachel Berry offers her a place to stay after their third help session, a soft and understanding smile playing across her face, Quinn pretty much jumps at the chance.  

-

A strange family tradition of the Berrys is Family Game Night (and it's literally written in capital letters, on their large dry erase board calendar, but it's now being crowded by things like, Quinn's check-up, and every time she sees the board she has a small burst of heat and tears filling her eyes).

They hold votes as to what game they play every Friday night, and tonight it is the game of Monopoly.  Rachel is uncharacteristically _sucking,_ denying purchase of several properties, and her fathers look so absolutely confused when she turns down Boardwalk that Quinn fears they might faint.  But Rachel just nods to Quinn that it's her turn, and Quinn leans over to grab the dice and looks down at her properties for just a moment and realizes that she has Park Place, and for a moment she's frozen.

Because, while she knows Rachel cares about her (hence the allowing Quinn to stay in her home), she didn't really expect Rachel to be like _this,_ letting her get properties in Monopoly.  It's such a break from character, a complete and absolute break, and it's so heartwarming that Quinn has another burst of heat and she feels tears gather again.  But she looks up at Rachel, who's looking at her with another soft smile on her face, the same one she only gives to Quinn, and she smiles back and rolls her dice blindly, her eyes on Rachel's.

She buys Boardwalk.

After Rachel's fathers sleepily head upstairs, declaring the game another lost hope, saying that Rachel was hard enough to beat, but Quinn just made it impossible, complaining amongst themselves about whatever happened to sweet teenage girls who didn't cut your throat over the utility properties.

Rachel doesn't say a word, just picks up the box and places it in the Berrys' board game closet, and starts walking up the stairs, and Quinn follows like she has for the past few weeks.

But she doesn't make a left in the main hallway to the guest room she's staying in, she hangs a right into Rachel's room, without a word.  Rachel doesn't look at all freaked out, just turns to face Quinn just inside her doorway.  

"Thank you," Quinn says, her eyes locking onto Rachel's and she knows she isn't talking about just Boardwalk, and she hopes Rachel _gets it,_ because Quinn means it.  She doesn't know why she somehow thinks that Rachel Berry is suddenly a good friend, a great one, but she didn't also think that she would sleep with her boyfriend's best friend and get knocked up, so she's just going with this, and somehow, it isn't so bad.

Rachel smiles again, but this time it's wider and whiter and Quinn feels like her chest tightens up and it takes her a second to realize she stopped breathing.  But she forgets just as quickly when Rachel speaks.

"You're welcome."

-

Quinn is stretched out on the long end of the Berrys' L-shaped couch, her head on a pillow on Rachel's doctor dad's lap.  He's Michael, and the Rachel's other dad is Aaron, and he's a teacher at one of Lima's elementary schools, but he's asleep upstairs, claiming exhaustion due to an art project gone wild with his second graders.  

Quinn and Michael are watching an old tape, a dance recital tape from a long time ago, and it takes Quinn a full ten minutes before she realizes that the girl she recognizes other than Rachel, the girl in the back of the line because of how gangly she was compared to the other girls, is her.  

"How old were we?" she asks, tilting her head up at Michael, and he smiles down at her, happy she's finally figured out that she's in this video too.

"Four.  I remember you explaining to Rachel after a practice that the reason you didn't try harder was because you didn't like it," he says, and when Quinn feels his hand on her head, brushing through her hair, she realizes her father hadn't done something like that in so long, and it kind of stings, but then she realizes that this man is doing it now and she feels yet _another_ burst of heartwarming affection.

"I didn't like it.  Dance just distracted me from piano, and I hated it," she finally says, then glances down at her sweats, an old Cheerio set from freshman summer camp.  "I started liking it more though, after a while.  I liked cheerleading," she mutters, tugging at the bright red pants before placing her hands on her baby bump, now exceedingly obvious.  "I guess I screwed that up too."

Michael sighs, then reaches forward to grip one of her hands and leans over her, a look in his eyes that Quinn can't quite place.  

"You didn't screw anything up, Quinn.  What's happened to you...is a blessing.  This baby _is_ your second chance.  I mean...you've changed, so much.  And for the better, in my opinion," he says, and Quinn feels her heartbeat right in her ears.  She knows exactly what he's referring back to, and can't even stop the tears from reaching her eyes again.  One of the many horrible wrongs of being pregnant is the constant _tears._

She sits up quickly, wiping at her eyes and turning towards Michael, who's only looking at her, not at all accusing, just simply looking at her. 

"I was a horrible person," she says, dropping his gaze to look at the leather couch, watching her teardrops hit it.  She feels him shift on the couch and lightly pull her face up to look at him.

"But you aren't, anymore," he says, and she can't even speak, so she just crashes into him, pulling him as tight as possible, because she wants to believe _so much_ that he's telling the truth, and because she can't imagine a better place to be in that moment.

-

On her birthday, Quinn wakes up to the sound of Rachel ordering what sounds like a whole crew of men around, clearly and concisely.  It's a Saturday and she's pretty sure it's disgustingly early, and she can't fall back asleep, so she just gets up with a groan, rubbing her baby bump absentmindedly, and wanders down the stairs to find a team of seven men moving a baby grand piano into the Berrys soundproofed extra room that Rachel uses to sing in and Aaron uses to play his assorted drums in.  

Rachel notices her quickly, bounding up to her with such enthusiasm that Quinn's early morning mix of sleepiness and anger is broken with her smile.  Because she knows, just _knows,_ that this is hers, that that beautiful Baldwin being carried in is hers, and she knows that this girl, Rachel Berry, her best friend, made sure she got it for her birthday.

And so she doesn't think she needs to explain why she pulls Rachel in for a hug, and Rachel doesn't question it when tears soak into her hair, just grips at Quinn's back tightly and whispers into Quinn's ear.  "Happy Birthday."

This time, when Quinn pulls back with tears running down her face and she looks at Rachel's own teary face, she doesn't mistake the tightness in her chest for anything like a pregnancy thing or just a random medical event, just brushes her hand across Rachel's face and smiles weakly, wiping away random tears.  

Because she's pretty sure she's never seen anything more beautiful.

-

The next month is a strange one for Quinn, because she's pretty sure that's she's fallen in love with her best friend, hard and unforgiving.  She finds herself fixated on things she's noted before, but never really let herself think about.  It's like she's been pushing it further and further back in her head, for _so much_ time, but it's finally gotten out and is just running loose.

She isn't really afraid of being gay.  She isn't even super sure she is gay, like officially.  She knows that she is very much gay for Rachel Berry, and that pretty much terrifies her.  Because Rachel is very much a heterosexual, because Quinn has witnessed some of Rachel and that jerkface Adam's goodnight kisses, and she knows that this is something not within reach.

Even so, she wakes up some nights gasping for air, the baby kicking wildly, because she's just had what could've been the hottest, most lewd dream in history.  She can remember every detail, scarily enough, and every morning, Rachel comes downstairs dressed in a skirt that barely covers her ass when she bends over, and Quinn doesn't honestly remember ever using so many curse words in inner monologues as when she sees Puck or Finn or any of the boys (and that one time, Santana) staring at Rachel's very long, very tan, very _delicious_ legs.

But sometimes, Rachel looks at her and Quinn can sort of see something in Rachel's eyes, but it's gone so quickly that Quinn sometimes wonders if it was ever there.  And when they touch - and they touch a lot, more than Quinn suspects a normal best _straight_ friends should touch - sometimes, Rachel lets the touch linger.

Quinn honestly does not know what the hell is wrong with her, and she's not even sure if it's wrong anymore, because she looks at Rachel sometimes and feels so right.

-

Two weeks after Haley is born, Rachel comes into Quinn's room in the middle of the night and lays down next to her.  Quinn almost doesn't wake up until Rachel slips an arm over her and grasps her hand, pressing her face into the space between Quinn's shoulder blades, just breathing.  This moment, while not unwelcome, is still just a little too far outside the already-too-far outside-the-bounds bounds in their strange friendship, and so Quinn feels the need to speak.

"What is it?" she asks, her hand gripping at Rachel's.

Rachel takes another breath, then mumbles that she couldn't sleep.

Quinn realizes five minutes later that Rachel has already fallen asleep, her breathing against Quinn's back at an even pace and her arm across Quinn having grown tighter, and even though Quinn hadn't gotten to ask the question brewing in her head ( _And you think you can sleep better with me?),_ she smiles contentedly, enjoying the sound of breathing from the two girls she loves most: Rachel at her back, and Haley across the room in her bassinet, thankfully not screaming for a later than midnight snack.

-

It is the night before the glee club must leave for nationals, and Brittany has supplied her house for the party, and Puck has supplied the alcohol.  

It's pretty entertaining, if Quinn were to be honest, exactly how little all the people in the club can't handle their liquor.  She had coerced Brittany into locking all the rooms in the house that weren't bathrooms, in a momentary recollection of the last time she had a few drinks, and then she had made it her job to watch Rachel wherever she went, making sure she didn't drink too much and didn't make out with anyone.

Her eyes are locked on Rachel and Puck's grinding in the middle of the makeshift dancefloor, watching Rachel's skirt ride up where Puck's leg is pressed.  She doesn't notice Finn collapse into the seat next to her, and doesn't register the arm sliding around her until it's pulling her into the side of Finn's body.

She isn't afraid, and she's certainly not interested, so she doesn't do anything to get out of the embrace, just leans against him.  Even though she had never really loved Finn and never really felt any sort of attraction (a lack of feeling now thoroughly explained by the feeling she gets when she watches Rachel run on her elliptical with boy shorts and a sports bra on), she had always felt pretty safe with him.  He was a sweet guy, he was just...a guy.  

"She likes you too," he says into her ear, and for a moment, Quinn is pretty sure the whole mini-party stops and stares accusingly at her.  Because she's pretty sure Finn just implied three things with one statement: that many people have noticed Quinn's lust-filled lengthy _glances,_ that Rachel shares some of these feelings, and that Quinn should make some sort of action on these matching feelings.

She pulls herself closer to Finn in an attempt to hide her bright red face, shaking her head.

"I don't know what you're talking about," she mutters and Finn just laughs at her.  

"Sure you don't," he says, pushing her up out of her seat and propelling her towards Rachel, who's now almost climbing on Puck.  "Go get her," he says, and Quinn finds herself following instructions, grabbing Rachel's hand and pulling her away from an affronted Puck.

Rachel, for her part, just lets Quinn drag her into the reasonably quiet and decidedly empty kitchen.

"Hi," Rachel says, her voice somewhat sleepy, but Quinn can tell she's not all that drunk, maybe just buzzed.

"Hey," Quinn answers, her hand still gripping Rachel's and her other pushing back an errant hair.

"I was just dancing, I don't like him," Rachel says, looking like a chastised child, and tugging at Quinn's hand in hers.  Quinn's hand pauses in Rachel's hair, but she smiles down at the slightly smaller girl.  

"I know.  You like Adam," she says, dropping her hand.  But Rachel frowns and reaches for it again, placing it once again on her head.

"That felt good," she mutters, and Quinn smiles again, threading her fingers through Rachel's long, shiny, smooth hair.  Rachel closes her eyes, murmuring her contentment, then grips Quinn's other hand tighter.  "And Adam and I broke up," she says, leaning forward into Quinn's shoulder.

Quinn pauses again, letting Rachel lean against her, then pulls back after a moment.  

"What?" she asks softly, searching Rachel's eyes.  Rachel, for her part, looks unconcerned.

"He was kind of a stupidhead.  Or something...smarter," she shrugs.  "And I don't like him anymore," she says, looking up at Quinn with that strange expression playing across her face before she leans up and presses a kiss to her lips.

Quinn is so surprised that she doesn't move at all until Rachel starts pulling back, loosening her grip on Quinn's hand, muttering that they should forget about it, and then Quinn yanks Rachel back up against her and presses her into the kitchen counter, kissing her hard.

Quinn doesn't mistake Rachel's small whimper, and she enjoys Rachel's tongue sweeping over her bottom lip until she catches the taste of a wine cooler there.

"You're drunk," Quinn mutters, pushing away from Rachel lightly, then forcing her way out of Rachel's arms, leaving the room before Rachel can even get out her protest.

-

Two days later, and they're performing _Somebody to Love_ in front of an audience so large that Mr. Schue looked like he was going to faint when Ms. Pillsbury had told him.  She can't see a face in the audience, but she can hear the breathlessness of the crowd and the energy pulsing through her, through all of them.  She knows her daughter is out there in the audience, probably wrapped in Aaron or Michael's arms, and she knows that her best friends are up here on this stage with her, and she can hear Rachel sing her heart right next to her.

 _"Somebody find me, somebody to love,"_ and Quinn feels Rachel's hand come up in a break of choreography to grip hers and she feels like she doesn't have to look anymore, because that somebody's right _there._

-

"I promise not to make out with any cheerleaders if you promise not to make out with any theater nerds," Quinn says, gripping Rachel's hands in hers in the middle of Cleveland Hopkins International Airport, and Rachel just laughs and pulls Quinn closer to her, wrapping her arms around the girl.

Rachel's flying out to New York for a Julliard-sponsored theater camp in the city, and Quinn's staying behind in Lima to re-join the Cheerios, a decision she feels is good, despite Coach Sylvester's minor insanity.  

"Deal," she mutters, before leaning up to press a light kiss to Quinn's lips.  No one seems to care, really, and Rachel's dads just smile, like they're perfectly happy that their daughter is dating a teenage mom who used to torture said daughter.

Haley's in a little outward-facing baby carrier, her legs swinging around while she leans forward to her mom and Rachel, and Rachel lets go of Quinn save one hand and kisses Haley on the top of her head.  Quinn _once again_ has a burst of affection that brings tears to her eyes.  She knows now that she's just a soft-hearted wimp, really, so she doesn't think much of it, just grips Rachel's hand tighter.

Rachel leans up to kiss both her dads cheeks and the five of them have a group hug, Haley squealing in happiness in the middle.  

"Bye," Rachel mutters, stepping forward to kiss Quinn once more, and this one lasts longer, maybe too long for a public place in the middle of Ohio.

"Bye," Quinn returns, breathing deep because she feels like she might cry.

"I love you," Rachel whispers, her eyes clouding up out of nowhere, and it's the first time either of them have said it, even though Quinn is starting to feel like it's been a fact for a long time now.

"Right back at you," Quinn whispers back, pecking Rachel again, and pushing her back playfully.  "You're going to be late."

Rachel just smiles, and squeezes Quinn's hand one last time before she's walking towards security, and Quinn is so very much in love that it's almost ridiculous.

 -

The day Quinn quits the Cheerios and burns her uniform (despite Sue's demand to have it returned), Rachel's dads take her out to dinner after her piano lesson is over.  Rachel holds her hand through the entire thing, smiling gratefully at her even though she knew of Quinn's tactics of throwing Cheerios off the team.  Haley laughs as they all watch Aaron attempt the airplane to get her to eat, and Quinn doesn't notice the group of people across the room until they all freeze when Rachel turns to press a kiss to Quinn's cheek, pulling her hand up and kissing it too.  

Quinn freezes immediately, her eyes sliding over her parents, sister, aunt, uncle, and cousin.  They all have different expressions on their faces, but before she can dissect them, Rachel looks over in the direction Quinn is staring and turns back to face her after she places the familiar bone structure on most of their faces.  She's wide-eyed, and immediately starts to drop Quinn's hand, but Quinn just holds tight and returns the gesture of kissing their clasped hands, staring into Rachel's eyes.

Rachel smiles slowly, leaning forward to set her forehead against Quinn's.

"I love you," Quinn whispers, before she presses a kiss to Rachel's lips.

 -

Nationals is held in the same place the end of their junior year, and Quinn is sitting on the same stage, this time with a bronze medal hanging around her neck.  It's not unexpected when Rachel sits next to her, but it is unexpected when she notices Haley wrapped in her arms.  

"She's asleep," Rachel whispers, looking down at the girl.  Quinn knows that Haley probably sees Rachel at an equal if not greater status as Quinn, and the idea isn't at all horrible.  In fact, it's _amazing._

Quinn's soft-heartedness comes through when she looks down at her daughter and sees the bronze medal around her neck, and it takes just about everything she has in her not to burst into tears of complete joy because a year ago?  She thought her life was pretty screwed up.  She had a month-old daughter and she was in love with her best friend and she was functioning on little to no sleep most of the time.  But now, she couldn't think of anything more perfect.

 -

Senior year goes by _fast,_ and a lot of things continue to fall into place.  Quinn gets into Columbia on pre-med, a major Michael is ridiculously happy about, and Rachel gets into Julliard, an accomplishment everyone expected.  When they move to the city, followed by Rachel's dads moving into a nice townhouse in Queens, Quinn realizes that this life is not at all what she expected, not at all what anyone expected from her, but she doesn't care.  

 -

Puck takes Quinn and Haley out on the town one week he flies in, while Rachel is at her off-off-broadway show that they've seen about eight times already (it's still amazing, but it gets old), and he ends up dragging Quinn inside a Kay Jewelers in Chelsea, and she has a minor heart attack when she realizes his intentions upon bringing her in.

It's not that she doesn't want to spend the rest of her life with Rachel, it's more that the idea of proposing is absolutely _terrifying_ because she knows Rachel, she knows exactly what she'd want out of one, and she knows exactly _how much_ a full Central Park carriage ride costs, and she also knows that the little money she has is being funneled into school and into Haley's starting pre-school.

But she's immediately drawn over to a simple band, with one singular square-cut diamond on a silver band, and the price doesn't seem all that bad when she hands over her credit card for a down payment.  She doesn't even realize she's got an engagement ring in her hand until she walks out.

"Oh my God," she says, immediately stopping.  Haley laughs at her from up on her dad's shoulders, and her smile looks almost identical to Puck's a few feet down.  "OH MY GOD."

"So how are you going to propose?" he asks, his trademark smirk that she used to find rather sexy on his face.  The only thing preventing her from kicking him in his stupid balls is the fact that their daughter is sitting happily up on his shoulders.

"I should've killed you a long time ago, Puckerman," she mutters, dragging him down the street towards her apartment.

 -

Quinn is in the process of having a panic attack when Rachel walks through the door to find Haley standing alone in the middle of their entryway.  Puck's in the kitchen, hiding as he promised he would, and she's in their bedroom, peeking through a tiny crack in the door.

Rachel stops immediately, crouching down to Haley and dropping her purse.

"Hey baby, where are your Mommy and Daddy?" she asks, her hands running over Haley's bright blond hair.

Haley takes a discernible deep breath that is so very Rachel that Quinn has a hard time not bursting into laughter, and then pulls her hands out from behind her back and shoves the box in Rachel's face.

"Momma, will you marry Mommy?" Haley asks, clear as day, and Quinn literally falls backwards onto the floor in shock, because Haley really delivered that so perfectly that Rachel is staring at her in shock, taking the black box out of Haley's small hands, completely speechless.  It's Quinn's cue, and Haley looks back to the doorway where she is and gives a bright smile.  

Quinn steps out and Rachel just stares at her, her hand tightening around the box and rising up to meet Quinn.

"I can't imagine what kind of person I would've ended up being if it weren't for you, Rachel.  And I don't want to ever know who I am without you.  I want to spend my life with you, and I want to make it official.  So...as our daughter said, will you marry me?"

Rachel doesn't even say anything, just throws her arms around Quinn and pulls her as close as possible, and she feels Haley's arms wrap around their legs and smiles down at her.  

"I love you so much," Rachel whispers, pulling back just enough to look Quinn in the eye.  Quinn smiles and feels the now all to familiar feeling of sentimental teariness rushing through her.  

"I love you too," she mutters, then kisses her.  


End file.
